Youth Of The Nation
by littlegreyfilly
Summary: -one shot, complete- ...it was supposed to be an ordinary day. -time stands still-


**Youth Of The Nation**

It was supposed to be a good day.

The sky was blue, the sun was out. Everything was going according to plan, just like it did every other day. This was no exception. There was nothing pointing toward a negative direction.

It was supposed to be a good day.

-x-

"Snake got Jimmy to replace Heather?" Emma's voice rang through out the dark, abandoned auditorium where she had agreed to meet Rick to discuss their team. He sighed and looked away from her.

"How could Mr. Simpson do this to the team- to me?" His voice was beginning to pick up speed, and Emma could see fear in his dark, brooding eyes. "God!"

Her mind raced, trying to find something to help cheer Rick up. She knew how important this day was. She knew how important the team was. "You know, Jimmy is really smart. And he knows a lot about sports. I don't know about you, but I can vouch for both Toby and myself that we know nothing about them." She smiled slightly, trying to picture Toby Isaccs, head brainiac, correctly answering how many points were counted in one touchdown in football.

She could tell that he was considering this. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Fine. Okay. I won't quit. And Jimmy can stay." With a pause, he added: "But if he loses this for the team, for us, then he's gonna pay." He looked over to Emma, his eyes darting between her own. "Right?" His hand grazed her shoulder, and she couldn't help but flinch ever so slightly.

"Right?"

A small nod. She wished she could find some humor in Rick's words, but was scared to find nothing but terror.

The bell rang, signaling time to begin homeroom.

-x-

It was time.

-x-

Whack Your Brain, the largest high school quiz show, was beginning to heat up. With the Degrassi team consisting of Emma Nelson, Toby Isaccs, Rick Murray, and Jimmy Brooks, they were neck and neck with the rival school.

Time was running out. Emma glanced anxiously at the clock. They needed just one more question to tie. One more!

She heard the buzzer ring in as Jimmy answered a question relating to golf.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and looked out into the audience. There was her step-dad, Archie Simpson, beaming and cheering. Her best friend, Manny Santos, laughing and holding hands with her current flame, Gavin "Spinner" Mason. She couldn't help but smile too.  
Everything was going to plan.

She didn't notice Spinner drop Manny's hand and exit the auditorium. She didn't notice Alex Nunez and Jay Hogart follow him, down the steps and into the hallway.

Maybe if she had, everything could've been stopped.

They were so close. So very, very close to victory. Pulse racing, she watched as Rick began to answer the Lightning Round questions. They only needed two more… one more…

The buzzer sounded.

They had won!

Jimmy was cheering. Toby and hugging her. She nodded at Rick, so proud of him for bringing home the victory for Degrassi.

Then, everything began to change. Rick, standing alone center stage, beaming in his success, was drenched in yellow paint that had fallen from the ceiling. Feathers trickled down after it, giving him a Carrie at the prom look.

The audience went silent. Then, laughter.

Emma watched, completely horrified, as Rick rushed off the stage, out of the auditorium, and out of sight.

She hurried off after him, finding him outside of the theater, obviously hurt beyond compare.

"Rick, I am so sorry-" She could barely finish what she was going to say when he reached over and kissed her.

She pulled away, completely disgusted with what had happened. Images of the previous year flashed before her eyes. Terri McGregor, kind and caring upperclassmen, laying on the ground after being shoved by her abusive boyfriend, winding up in a coma, then transferring to private school.

That boyfriend had been Rick.

Feeling full of shame for even bothering to help him, she turned tail and fled from the scene.

If she had known what he was planning on doing, she wouldn't have gone to class at all after the game show disaster. She just would've kept running.

-x-

He returned to school, still covered in paint, still wearing the same suit he had done the quiz bowl in. He told Toby to leave if he knew what was good for him.

He accepted Paige's denounce for what had happened earlier that day, and the previous year. An still shot of his ex-girlfriend Terri passed before his mind, but he blinked her away with fury. Now was not the time to contemplate. He muttered his own apology for the hurt he had once caused her, and kept his hands sealed beneath his jacket.

The clock ticked away the seconds.

The bathroom. He didn't have much time.

A door opened. Quickly he hid in the stall, leaving a noticeable trail of paint and feathers in his midst.

Voices. Jay Hogart and Spinner Mason. Just earlier that day, after Rick had bonded with Jimmy, they had come to terms. Maybe they knew who had caused him so much misery, so much hell during his shining moment.

He was about to leave the stall.

When:

"Yeah, it was all Jimmy's idea."

Jimmy. Jimmy Brooks? Jimmy Brooks, fellow member of the Whack Your Brain competition? Jimmy Brooks… his friend?

Anger pulsed through his veins. Anger raged on, but it didn't even come to compete with the hurt that shook him to his very core.

Jimmy would pay. Jimmy would make sure he had never been born.

-x-

A gun. His heart was pounding as he pointed and aimed at Jimmy. The other boy began to back away, obviously filled with complete fear, but doing his best to remain calm.

He had tried to tell Rick the truth.

He hadn't believed him,

If only,

A shot. A shot so horrible that it echoed and rang across the entire hall was heard.

A scream. One long, bloodcurdling scream.

Jimmy was on the ground, blood from his back pooling before him.

Was he dead?

No time to think. People were running.

He moved on.

-x-

_We are, we are, we are… the youth of the nation._

Passing time down the hall. The shot hadn't carried as far as Rick had intended. As Emma saw more students fleeing toward her locker, she couldn't help but go the opposite way. Toby and Sean Cameron, her ex boyfriend, followed, equally as curious to what as happening down at the other end of the corridor.

There he was.

Rick.

Emma tensed. He was holding a gun. She could feel Sean grab her arm. He was whispering something about staying calm, about backing away slowly.

Rick's bark snapped her back to reality. "Don't walk away from me!"

She stayed still, focusing completely on the man before her. He could've been so much… he could've gone so far.

If only things had been different for him.

He brought the gun up, aiming it directly at her, between the eyes. She flinched, no longer thinking. She could hear the blood pound in her ears, and wondered if it would be the last time.

Memories flooded into her mind as quickly as a windstorm. She was four, watching her mother graduate from high school from the audience, sitting with her grandmother. She was six, swinging and laughing with Manny at the park. She was nine, dancing wildly with Manny and J.T to songs from _The Lion King_. She was twelve, being seduced by an online predator she had stupidly decided to meet. She was thirteen, kissing Sean for the first time at her mother and Snake's wedding. She was fourteen, standing loyally by Manny's side as she decided to have an abortion, even though it went against everything she stood for.

She was fifteen, a sophomore in high school, and she was about to die.

She didn't hear Sean try to reason Rick out of shooting her. She didn't even see Rick begin to press his finger on the trigger. All she saw was the tumble, heard Toby's scream, heard the shot.

Then everything turned to black. Her vision became dizzy.

She couldn't breathe.

Silence.

Time stood still.

Then, a voice. Softly, she heard singing in her ears:

_Last day of the rest of my life  
I wish I would've known  
Cause I didn't kiss my mama goodbye  
I didn't tell her that I loved her and how much I care  
Or thank my pops for all the talks  
And all the wisdom he shared  
Unaware, I just did what I always do_

Everyday, the same routine  
_Before I skate off to school  
But who knew that this day wasn't like the rest  
Instead of taking a test  
I took two to the chest  
Call me blind, but I didn't see it coming  
Everybody was running  
But I couldn't hear nothing  
Except gun blasts, it happened so fast  
_

_I don't really know this kid  
Even though I sit by him in class  
Maybe this kid was reaching out for love  
Or maybe for a moment  
He forgot who he was  
Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged  
Whatever it was  
I know it's because_

_We are, we are, we are… the youth of the nation!  
We are, we are, we are… the youth of the nation!_

_Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim  
No matter what you say  
It don't take away the pain  
That I feel inside, I'm tired of all the lies  
Don't nobody know why_

_It's the blind leading the blind  
I guess that's the way the story goes  
Will it ever make sense  
Somebody's got to know  
There's got to be more to life than this  
There's got to be more to everything  
I thought exists..._

The Youth Of The Nation.

**OOC/ This is just a one shot I decided to write at 2:00 am. I was thinking about Emma, because she is my favorite character and is so much like me to the point of almost creepy, and I was wondering what it must've been like to be her during the episode Time Stands Still.**

**The song, Youth Of The Nation, belongs to P.O.D. Degrassi belongs to CTV and Funimation, and The-N. I own nothing except my own thoughts.**

**Thanks for reading. Reach out... you might just save a life.**


End file.
